Jayco quality?

[Sheepdog78]

I posted yesterday that I’m looking at picking up a Jayco North Point 5er. I’ve found some fairly harsh reviews of them online. Have they really gone drastically down in quality since Thor bought out Jayco? There are just too many variables for me to answer that question on my own, without actually owning one. Obviously any company can have a bad product slip past QC. I tend to think that many negative reviews are from people with unrealistic expectations. I have rarely had a trip that I didn’t have to fix something on my Keystone Sprinter when I got home. To me repairs are just the nature of having a 5er, and catastrophic failures are mostly from poor user maintenance. Anyone have opinions on Jayco quality?

[neal10a]

One must be handy at fixing things to own a RV IMHO. They are hand built and no two are the same while being prone to problems. The quality of items like electrical, plumping, suspension parts, tires, hydrolics, intertainment systems, frame, construction materials and etc that a manufacturer choses is important for the long run. Too many manufactures use minimum quality to cut price and adhere to established federal and other standards. To determine the quality of those items requires a lot of home work that most people are not willing to do and are at the mercy of the manufacturer.
I found that manufacturers that wire and plumb their trailers using neat orderly methods that exceeds standards is good place to start and shows up in quality in other areas as well. That demonstrates they care about the long term use of that RV. Of course those RVs cost a little more but pay off in the long run.

[Flapper]

I was spoiled. Met the semi-retired owner of the local Jayco dealer when all the staff were otherwise at the local RV show. He was left manning the store. Lots of chatting latter, he proudly noted that his dealership had the highest rate of warranty repairs in the country - because he insisted that every single aspect be tested and fixed before a customer got it. And he was right, in my case. 5 years, and nothing that needed dealer attention.
Now have a Grand Design because they had a floorplan we liked better. Have had a few small dealer adjustments (different dealer), but the amazing part was being able to call the factory direct, and have someone quickly advise or answer the question. Something Jayco never put up with - it was always "call your dealer". Many, many tales of the Grand Design factory stepping in directly when there was an issue.
Based on my limited experience - if you have a good Jayco dealer, go for it. Or, look at Grand Design.

[Fishwater]

I just went through this & settled on a Grand Design. We started looking at Jayco & maybe it was the dealer we looked at but everything on their lot looked like it was put together in the dark. Brand new units with led strips hanging off, massive gaping holes in the storage compartments with zero expanding foam to close the gaps, wires hanging out of the slides or cabinets. I even joined the Jayco forum & posted a thread asking the same questions about their quality. Now I understand that these units were just delivered from the factory & not prepped yet but I was seriously concerned with what I saw.

Then we looked at Keystone units at three different dealerships, they were slightly better but not by much. Same wide open storage concerns & after having mice last year I’m super sensitive to entry points so those units were a turn off right away. Once looking into the storage compartments you could see wiring all over the place, sloppy screws, missing screws etc. The insides were a little better but not by much.

Finally we looked at Grand Design & while not perfect they at least had tight seals, tidy wiring & straight trim. We settled on a 290BH Reflection 150 series which is not even close to top of the line but appear to be built a few steps higher than price point would indicate.

[Likes_to_tow]

There is practically no quality control on units at the factory. All systems are not checked before shipment, that is up to your selling dealer!! Water tanks, water lines, plumbing fixtures, A/C and furnace are not checked until the unit is sold. You must have a good relationship with your dealer, and demand a very slow thorough walk thru and pressure test of all plumbing. Make them fill the water tank and test for leaks and operation before you leave the dealership. Also make them hook up a city water connection and test that. Test the A/C and furnace thoroughly before leaving the dealership also. Put water in the gray and black water tanks, check for leaks, also check for proper operation of the dump valve. You might also check the date of manufacture on your axles. Many units had grease seals leaking grease on the brakes......massive problem on many units and there was no recall.

Maintenance is a never ending ritual with all RV's regardless of brand. Sealing all joints is a constant must do. Water intrusion causes delamination on all brands! Airstream makes the only trailer that is probably a 100% sure bet on quality but their price is profane. You get what you pay for. Quality does not come cheap.

[jmbstudios]

Great advice in this thread. When I finally pick out my 5'r I'm gonna spend the day cherry picking it.
And have a chat with the dealer and get an idea of how truthful they are.

[bubbatraveler]

I have a 2017 jayco northpoint 315RLTS.my wife and I love it.No real problems with it,just a few cosmetic issues easy fix.

[garyp4951]

I pretty much think just about all 5th wheel quality has gone down, with all the dope heads, and no drug testing. They just want to get it out the door.

[irishtom29]

My last few years in the trade (Boilermakers Local 1, Chicago) housekeeping was increasingly looked upon as a safety issue and as such was looked after.

[goducks10]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

goducks10 wrote:

irishtom29 wrote:

Sheepdog78 wrote:
@jdb7566. Leaving trash behind is common among all construction trades.

All the trades? And how would you know? In industrial construction cleanliness is often taken quite seriously and trades such as ironworkers,boilermakers, pipe fitters and milllwrights are often expected to keep a clean site and do. And the contractor can always send the laborers around to clean up; that’s their rice bowl after all.

x2. 30 years as a Union Carpenter jobs were always clean. All trades did their own cleanup and as mentioned Laborers picked up as well.

During my tenure with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joint Smokers we never picked up anything. That was the laborers job. Some of those laborers would get downright upset if we picked up one piece of wood, a pop can, or scrap piece of bar. They would be running as fast as possible to their steward or be calling the BA informing we were taking their work away.

During my second life as a General Superintendent for a scabbing open shop GC, the jobs would typically be a complete mess from the trades, even if we had union trades mixed in. I used to enjoy it. It gave me an excuse to send out the notice letters, then bring in our laborers to clean up the entire site every few weeks and backcharge all the subs for it. It was a real money maker.

We had our apprentices scrap out. You must be an east coaster.

[Toolguy5]

We purchased a Jayco Northpoint last year. We only used a few times last year. All in all the quality is good. We had issues but nothing that wasn't taking care of. Because thing we had to work through was getting right parts from Jayco and having Jayco expediting them.
Seams that the parts department and manufacturing do not talk.
I had to get involved and speak my mind with Jayco to get parts expedited.



We are having a stick house being built. Watching it going up quality is in issue there as well. If I was not keeping an eye on things I can only imagine what the finish product would look like.
The workers are slobs as well. It appeared to me it is beneath them to pick up after themselves. Also one trade's quality was off on something the next trade would just overlook it.
Example electrician put switch box in extremely crooked. Drywaller put dry wall up anyway.
Concrete porch had a huge chunk out of it in a corner. Brick layer when a head and installed brick on wall. Now they had to remove brick to repair the concrete.
What a waste.

[Ralph_Cramden]

goducks10 wrote:

irishtom29 wrote:

Sheepdog78 wrote:
@jdb7566. Leaving trash behind is common among all construction trades.

All the trades? And how would you know? In industrial construction cleanliness is often taken quite seriously and trades such as ironworkers,boilermakers, pipe fitters and milllwrights are often expected to keep a clean site and do. And the contractor can always send the laborers around to clean up; that’s their rice bowl after all.

x2. 30 years as a Union Carpenter jobs were always clean. All trades did their own cleanup and as mentioned Laborers picked up as well.

During my tenure with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joint Smokers we never picked up anything. That was the laborers job. Some of those laborers would get downright upset if we picked up one piece of wood, a pop can, or scrap piece of bar. They would be running as fast as possible to their steward or be calling the BA informing we were taking their work away.

During my second life as a General Superintendent for a scabbing open shop GC, the jobs would typically be a complete mess from the trades, even if we had union trades mixed in. I used to enjoy it. It gave me an excuse to send out the notice letters, then bring in our laborers to clean up the entire site every few weeks and backcharge all the subs for it. It was a real money maker.

[goducks10]

irishtom29 wrote:

Sheepdog78 wrote:
@jdb7566. Leaving trash behind is common among all construction trades.

All the trades? And how would you know? In industrial construction cleanliness is often taken quite seriously and trades such as ironworkers,boilermakers, pipe fitters and milllwrights are often expected to keep a clean site and do. And the contractor can always send the laborers around to clean up; that’s their rice bowl after all.

x2. 30 years as a Union Carpenter jobs were always clean. All trades did their own cleanup and as mentioned Laborers picked up as well.

[texasjayco]

I bought an '08 Jayco Eagle and kept it for a couple years with no issues at all. In fact, it was flawless!! I traded it in on a '10 Forest River (Sierra). At first I thought...what have I done!! It was nowhere near the same quality as the Eagle!! BUT, 10 years of no major issues at all!! As someone said, you always have minor issues to fix.
Now I just bought a 2019 Jayco Pinnacle. It's obvious the quality of the '08 is certainly not there, but so far no issues at all.

As others stated, the dealer is more important.

Mark

[irishtom29]

Sheepdog78 wrote:
@jdb7566. Leaving trash behind is common among all construction trades.

All the trades? And how would you know? In industrial construction cleanliness is often taken quite seriously and trades such as ironworkers,boilermakers, pipe fitters and milllwrights are often expected to keep a clean site and do. And the contractor can always send the laborers around to clean up; that’s their rice bowl after all.